Ministers are considering plans to ban the sale of mobile phones for all under-16s amid growing concern over mental health.
There are concerns among Government ministers that smartphones and social media is contributing to soaring mental health issues.
A recent poll showed that nearly two-thirds of the public support a ban.
Tory MP Miriam Cates said: "I’m delighted that the Government is considering banning the sale of smartphones to under 16s.
Ministers are considering plans to ban the sale of mobile phones for all under-16s amid growing concern over mental health
PA
"It has become incredibly evident that smartphones and social media are not safe for children and have caused an alarming rise in suicides, anxiety and sexual abuse as well as being highly addictive.
"Parents are desperate for the Government to act and polling shows there would be strong support for such a move.
"We cannot continue to allow Big Tech to steal our children’s childhood."
But a Tory source accused the Government of a "knee-jerk response".
They told Guido: "This knee-jerk response from some ministers to just ban stuff has got completely out of hand.
"Conservatives are supposed to believe in personal and parental responsibility. It’s no wonder voters can’t bear the sight of us anymore.”
In February, the Government announced a ban on mobile phones in schools across England as part of its plan to minimise disruption and improve behaviour in classrooms.
Esther Ghey, whose daughter Brianna was murdered last year, is campaigning for child-safe phones for under-16s, as she believes one would have saved her life.
Brianna was murdered in February 2023 by two 15-year-olds who she thought were her friends. Ghey thinks her daughter's life would have been saved if safeguards on viewing social media content had been in force.
Brianna was stabbed 28 times and her killers had viewed online content about torture and murder beforehand.
Esther told GB News: "Children have access to absolutely everything that's in the world now.
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There are concerns among Government ministers that smartphones and social media is contributing to soaring mental health issues
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"The content that they might access, and the content that they're then fed through the algorithm, it’s kind of radicalising children."
A poll conducted by More in Common, which spoke to 2,050 adults, found that 67 per cent of people think smartphones and social media apps have been a bad thing for young people.
Some 64 per cent of people thought a ban on selling smartphones to under-16s would be a good idea, compared to 20 percent who said it was a bad idea.
The poll spoke to 2,050 adults in Great Britain in February.
